For the first time ever in the history of the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, two films tie for Best Picture. Steve McQueen's "Hunger" and Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" shared the top prize, while Kathryn Bigelow was named Best Director for "The Hurt Locker."

There's also a tie in the Best Screenplay category between "Inglourious Basterds" and "Up in the Air."

Yes, a signal of what's in store this awards season, winners are all over the place. For example, Nicolas Cage came out of left-field to nab the Best Actor award for his performance in "The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," while the astounding Carey Mulligan was named Best Actress for her role in the brilliant "An Education."

Oh, and I love that the Toronto Film Critics picked "The Cove" for Best Documentary -- great eye-opening film!

Here's the complete list of winners and runners-up of the 2009 Toronto Film Critics Association Awards:

Runners-up:Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”Mo’nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

BEST DIRECTORKathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”

Runners-up:Steve McQueen, “Hunger”Quentin Tarantino, “Inglourious Basterds”BEST SCREENPLAY (TIE)“Inglourious Basterds”, written by Quentin Tarantino“Up in the Air”, written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turnerbased on the novel by Walter Kirn

Runner-up:“A Serious Man”, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

BEST FIRST FEATURE“Hunger”, directed by Steve McQueen

Runners-up:“District 9&#8243;, directed by Neill Blomkamp“(500) Days of Summer”, directed by Marc Webb

San Francisco Film Critics Name "The Hurt Locker" Best Film of the Year

Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 01:25 PMPosted by Manny

"The Hurt Locker" continues to invade film critics awards nationwide, as the San Francisco Film Critics Circle named the movie the Best Picture of the year, with director Kathryn Bigelow winning the trophy for helming.

Colin Firth received the Best Actor nod for his portrayal of a gay man trying to cope with the death of his partner in "A Single Man," while Meryl Streep's brilliant performance as Julia Childs in "Julie & Julia" garnered her the Best Actress trophy.

Christian McKay for "Me and Orson Welles" bested awards favorite Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" for Best Supporting Actor, while Mo'Nique continued to dominate with her "Precious" performance, receiving the Best Supporting Actress.

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle paid homage to local screenwriter/producer Rose Kaufman, who recently died of cancer.

Here's the full list of winners for the 2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards:

MARLON RIGGS AWARD FOR COURAGE & VISION IN THE BAY AREA FILM COMMUNITY: Frazer Bradshaw, filmmaker, in recognition of his film "Everything Strange and New"Barry Jenkins, filmmaker, in recognition of his film "Medicine for Melancholy"

“We're flattered and honored with the support we've received for Up throughout the year, and this is a humbling, happy year-end moment for us. We spend years making these films and you never know how people will receive them, and we continue to be thrilled with the response. Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press for this incredible honor.”

"It has been a great year for feature animation which has demonstrated the breadth of the medium. We are very proud to have our hand-drawn "Princess and the Frog" honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association alongside such exceptional films."

"This Golden Globe nomination is sweet validation for the years of hard work it took to bring Coraline to life using stop-motion animation with the greatest crew of animators, artists, and technicians I've ever been privileged to work with. I share this nomination with all of them and we all share our thanks to the Hollywood Foreign Press."